Urban Rank-Size Hierarchy: A Mathematical Interpretation

Fonseca, James W. Urban Rank-Size Hierarchy: A Mathematical Interpretation. Ann Arbor: Institute of Mathematical Geography, Monograph Series, Monograph #8, 1989. 85 pages + Persistent URL (URI): http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/58235

Institute of Mathematical Geography

1-877751-16-2

Institute of Mathematical Geography (IMaGe) Monograph SeriesIMaGe Monograph #8

Rank-sizeUrbanHierarchySpiral

From the Introduction: Despite seventy years of intensive research, the mathematical nature of the urban rank-size hierarchy is still subject to much debate (Carroll, 1982). Stewart (1958, 245) has argued that urban distributions approximate an "S" shaped logistics curve, others suggest a "J" shaped distribution and that linearity in the data exists only in truncated portions of the distribution (Carroll, 1979) The research in this monograph demonstrates a new interpretation of rank-size regularities: data which conform, in general, to a rank-size pattern, approximate the curve of an equiangular spiral.

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